Over The Sky
by Lyrael
Summary: Hitomi's near death on Earth lands her on Gaia once again, with a surprising change to everything she thought she knew about herself. VxH. Rated M for future chapters.
1. Transcendence

**Over The Sky**

A fanfiction by Lyrael

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne, though I very much wish I did.

* * *

I discovered a long time ago that when the rays of the morning sun peeked through and around the buildings, I could see beyond the clouds; it was like they turned transparent for that short amount of time especially for me. For about a minute, I saw through the atmosphere to a small planet that forever hid in Earth's shadow. The swirling white, blue, and green of Gaia's surface were visible, and for that period of time each morning, the deepest pangs of loneliness permeated my very soul. 

It was only a few months after my time on Gaia came to an end that I realized such an unusual phenomenon occurred daily. I didn't know if it had, perhaps, been occurring for my entire life, but each morning since then, I awoke at 5:23 am to gaze upon the planet that I missed so much.

It was during these viewings that every ounce of love I felt for the young king of Fanelia had grown more potent. After a few years of my routine, I had begun to feel sad every time I witnessed Gaia's untouchable beauty. The sadness had nestled in a hollow space, a space that was created in the vacuum of my journey from Gaia to Earth.

Of course, my return home had been simple and unannounced.

When the time had come for me to return to where I belonged, the pillar of light erupted around my feet, gently lifting me from the king's embrace. He had been so reluctant to let go.

I had become accustomed to the physical sensations accompanying those taxing trips between planets, but the journey home had been so different. I had been stricken with an uneasy queasiness as I stared down into the markedly crimson gaze of Van Slanzar de Fanel. He had been sad, and did not hide it. A worry had crossed my sense of being, the kind of upset feeling that most people only get when someone they love is about to go very far away.

"I won't forget you," I had yelled down to him, "I'll come back!" As the distance between him and I grew larger, I closed my eyes in one last effort to minimize the pain of leaving.

Soon I had been taken up into the clouds, past the mountain peaks and shrieking birds of prey, and into the emptiness of space. I barely noticed it all whizzing by me. Everything became a blur after awhile, and I stopped noticing the small things.

Within a few moments, I found myself lying on my bed. The trip had been so exhausting that I'd fallen asleep without moving a single inch.

My mother had found me a short while later. She woke me quietly, and sat beside me while I talked of everything that had happened. Then I spoke of Van, and how much I missed him already. I had willingly told my mother how I felt about the young man with angel's wings. She stroked my hair while I cried. I can't remember ever having cried so bitterly, but for an hour my heart was in so much pain that I felt like I was going to die.

I cried myself to sleep that night, and when I woke up the next morning, I was under the covers with irritated, puffy eyes, and a fairly bitter taste in my mouth.

Yukari and Amano had visited a few hours afterwards, and as much as I had wanted to tell them everything about Gaia, I cut my experiences down to a five-minute summary, and excluded Van all together. I never knew exactly why I had chosen to leave him out of my account. I believed it was because I wanted to keep his quiet memory inside my heart, to myself. I was fifteen at the time, but my heart had known a conquering love. And I still knew, even five years later, that it would be the only love my heart ever knew.

I went about the rest of high school relatively easily. I gave up my childish games of fortune telling, wrapped my tarot cards in a silk cloth, and stuck them in the back corner of my desk drawer. I never really forgot about them, to be honest. Sometimes I took them out and shuffled the deck for old times' sake. I never gave myself another reading, though. I felt that maybe leaving fate to its devices would serve me better.

Sometimes when I waited for the train to go home from school, I would stare across the bay as the sun began its slow descent into the west. Often I could feel Van's presence in my head while I stood there, and at times he would make himself visible, even if it were only for a few moments. My friends always wondered why I grew silent at the train station, but their ponderings always ceased when the train slowed to a stop in front of us, and I was chatty and happy again.

There was one time when he had appeared to my left, a vision that startled me into heated embarrassment. I had heard him laughing then; his voice had gotten deeper. Every time I saw him, I could see different changes. He grew, he filled out; when I saw him, he appeared to be more lean and intense than when I left Gaia. He looked more and more like his father with each sighting.

The distance had never permitted us to talk, or to share much information, but I sometimes received brief flashes during the day: a new Fanelia, various places in the castle, and the forest where Escaflowne rested.

At times, when the vibrations between the two planets slowed to a lower frequency, I could feel him run a hand across my back, or softly touch my cheek. I saw his smile in my mind's eye, and I knew that he still thought of me, still loved me.

As much as I tried, however, I could not wish myself back to Gaia. My grandmother, who always smiled very knowingly every time she saw me after my return to Earth, had laughed when I'd complained to her.

"Obaa-chan… this isn't funny," I had said, pouting. "I want to go back and see…" I'd realized that my face was turning red then, and I clapped a hand over my mouth.

She had touched my hand gently. "I told you that wishing is a very powerful thing, ne? Well, sometimes wishing may not work."

Those simple words had almost prompted a bit of whining, but I knew somewhere in the dusty corners of my consciousness that perhaps Gaia wasn't ready for my return.

* * *

At 5:20 am, a very annoying radio announcer stirred me from my sleep. Groggily, I reached over and shut off the switch. The announcer, midway through advertising a brand new erectile dysfunction product, was cut off, and I smiled rather evilly to myself. I hated those commercials with a passion, yet there always seemed to be one playing whenever I was waking up. 

"God, I hate mornings," I said, yawning rather pointedly. I rubbed my eyes gently, blinked a few times, and sat up. The digital clock readout cut through the darkness, and 5:21 am brightly imposed itself on my retinas. Running a hand through my hair, I stood up, and wandered to the window of my bedroom. I stared off into the East, my eyes searching the heavens for any sign of Gaia. After a few moments, I glanced back at the clock; it read 5:23 am. Quickly I turned my gaze back to the sky, and the planet appeared, right on schedule. I sighed when I saw it. I imagined Van up there, just waking up in Fanelia. My fingertips lightly brushed the glass and I felt the painful longing that was associated with my early morning reveries. I sometimes wondered when Gaia would permit me to return, and I wanted it to be soon. Suddenly the small orb disappeared, and I knew that it would return tomorrow, just like it always did.

As I made my bed and folded it up, my mind began to wander through the past five years. I was twenty years old now, in a wonderful university on a track scholarship, and missing a much simpler life. My grandmother had passed away in the previous year, taking any answers to my questions about Gaia with her. Sometimes though, when I was walking through Tokyo's crowded streets to get to class, I wondered if she'd known any more than I did.

I tiptoed past Yukari and Amano's bedroom with a towel and shampoo in hand. I could hear Amano snoring quietly, and I giggled to myself. He had already finished college and held down a pretty important job at a high-end publishing firm. He was the only reason that Yukari and I could actually live somewhere decent, but he didn't mind us living with him until the end of school. In fact, his love for my best friend was probably the reason I was here, but at least I didn't have to live in some closet-sized apartment in a bad section of town.

As I scrubbed my face with a washcloth, I found myself smiling at their relationship. They had become the couple that I had wanted to see myself in way back when I was a freshman in high school, and probably would end up getting married after college.

I silently closed the door and started the shower, shedding my oversized pajama shirt, track shorts, and panties. I locked the door and pulled back the curtain, stepping into the steamy warmth. I loved showers; they were refreshing and helped to wake me up most mornings.

I washed my hair with a sweet-scented American shampoo, and let my thoughts wander over what I had to do for the day. There were no classes scheduled for the afternoon, but I didn't feel like staying at home. I knew that Yukari didn't have class, and as I rinsed the shampoo from my short hair, I wondered if maybe she'd be up to visiting the high school. We sometimes found our ragtag "family" strolling along the fence of the track, reflecting on stranger times and even stranger memories.

The warm water cascaded over my body for another couple of minutes, but I felt a light touch skim across my naked back. I felt shivers crawl down my spine as Van made an effort from Gaia. I hadn't felt him in my head for quite awhile now, but I felt a surge of excitement in my chest, threatening to explode. After a few seconds I could see his face, which was half-obscured by his long black bangs. His eyes glinted happily, but then I realized that he was probably receiving a mental picture of myself, sopping wet hair and all. I felt myself turning red, and I heard his deep chuckle, which sounded as if he were standing right outside the shower.

'Hitomi…' his voice echoed, and I found myself nearly falling over in surprise. It was the first time he'd ever vocalized anything in my head. 'Come back?' His tone was pleading, beckoning, and I thought I heard traces of hopelessness.

At his words, my happiness nearly dissolved into a flood of tears. I reached down and shut off the water, and slicked back my bangs. I pushed the curtain back and felt a cold wave of air wash over my naked body.

'Soon, Van,' I whispered in my mind, hoping that it reached him. 'Soon.' He didn't reply after that, but the firm brush of his fingers against my cheek signaled that he had been trying intensely to reach me. It led me to wonder if he knew of something that was going to occur, but I soon pushed that uncomfortable notion out of my mind. Sometimes I wondered if it really had been a good idea to stop practicing with my tarot cards.

I brushed my hair into its normal style, pinching my thumb and index finger around a bright blue shock of hair. Yukari had done it a week ago, and it had retained its color quite nicely. I closed one eye and looked at myself in the mirror, and after a bit of thought, decided to leave the tarot cards in the drawer. That mistake would later almost cost me my life.

In front of the mirror, I adjusted my shirt, and quickly surveyed my outfit. A beige knee-length, tiered skirt, and a very clingy white tank top. I bit my lip, and turned this way and that, my eyes sweeping over my figure. I felt that I had done damn well to keep myself trim and healthy, and it had definitely paid off over the years. The clock read 6:02 am, and the sun was just fully pulling itself into the sky. I draped a long beaded necklace around my neck, pulled on my knee-high black boots (which Yukari had laughingly dubbed my "hooker boots" some time ago), and put in my earrings. I put on some lip balm and swished out of my room. Before I stepped out the door however, I cast one last glance at the drawer, where my tarot cards had been laid to rest.

"I wonder…" I said aloud. But again, I pushed the thought into the back of my mind. I had an uneasy feeling as I opened the door to Yukari's room, but I made myself ignore it.

"Psst! Yukari!" I hissed, hoping that she would hear me. I squinted, and in the dark I could just barely make out my friend shifting and propping herself up. "It's 6:15, get up!"

"Okay, okay," she groaned, yawning loudly and then reaching over and shaking Amano awake. I closed the door and continued down the hallway.

Amano had a really nice apartment: two bedrooms, full kitchen, full bathroom, and a decent-sized den area that was situated just off the kitchen. We'd had quite a few interesting parties here in the past few months, as Amano had taken some of his extra cash and bought a totally awesome entertainment center.

I walked towards the door, grabbing my black hoodie from the back of the leather couch and shrugging it on. I was hungry, but I didn't feel like having the leftover noodles in the fridge. Amano never had decent food in his house unless there was a party coming up.

My messenger bag was on the chair by the door, and I quickly checked my wallet to make sure I had some money. I slung the bag over my shoulder and walked out the door, shutting it behind me.

Japan had always been a place that I loved intensely. Even though I didn't truly fit in – I was half-American – it was still my beloved home.

My father had been an American soldier stationed in Tokyo for a few years; he met my mother and they quickly fell in love. They got married a year later, and then they had me. Most of my classmates growing up had always envied my green eyes and strawberry-blonde hair, features that I'd inherited from my dad. Unlike my mom, he never really inquired as to where I'd been when I'd disappeared, but he knew; my father was a mysterious man, and he seemed to know everything but never let on to it.

A gentle breeze wafted down the sidewalk, and my skirt fluttered around my bare legs. The stores around me were just opening to the morning rush, and there were already many businessmen strolling to work. A few chatted animatedly, having just gotten off the train, and some ate as they walked.

As for me, I was headed to La Boulangerie, a fantastic little French bakery. I could smell the fresh pastries in the air, and a lazy smile crossed my lips. I was a sucker for their pain au chocolat, a croissant with dark chocolate wrapped in the middle. I was within a few feet of the store when someone started yelling, and then a woman screamed. It sounded like it was coming from the bakery.

Instinct told me to stay rooted to the spot; however, morbid curiosity took hold of my legs and began dragging them forward. I peeked in the main entrance, but I couldn't see anything from my angle. I tried inching closer to the door, but a sudden gunshot caused me to jump backwards. My heart began pumping like crazy, and adrenaline shot into my veins. Van's face leapt into my mind at that moment, and I knew why he had tried so hard to talk to me.

The gunshot still rang in my ears, and almost reflexively I knew what was coming.

An older man, with salt and pepper hair that was slicked back, stumbled out of the bakery. There were a few spots of blood on his otherwise immaculately white dress shirt, and he looked half mad.

Blood pounded in my ears, and it was a thunderous, intense noise. I took a few shaky steps backward, but I knew that this man, whoever he was, had no intention of letting me survive.

"What did you see?" he yelled at me, his voice cracking. He took a step closer to me, his chest heaving. Spittle sprayed everywhere when he repeated himself. "What did you see!"

"N-nothing," I stuttered. Another step backwards.

He drew himself up, rearranging his face into a calm expression of malevolence. His finger squeezed the trigger.

I fell backwards to the pavement, white-hot pain shooting in little sparks through my chest.

The back of my skull cracked against the concrete, and my vision blurred. An irritating ringing sound erupted in my ears, and my left hand clutched at the area just under my right breast. I could feel hot blood flowing heavily, each wave of it pumping out of me with every beat of my heart. There was a steady, panicked murmur above me, and I guessed (primarily from watching those dramas on TV where someone gets hot lead in their system) that some people had gathered around me.

'_Hitomi… come back?'_

I smiled to myself as I began to die on the sidewalk. 'Oh, Van…' My body shook with a hard cough, expelling blood from my lungs.

The ringing in my ears grew louder, but through the waves of sound, I heard something. It began quietly at first, but it soon rose above all else.

'HITOMI.' It was Van's voice, loud and commanding inside my head. I strained uncomfortably against the sidewalk, but I knew what he wanted me to do.

I stretched my bloodstained left hand to the sky for a brief moment, and I cried out with every ounce of my soul. I could hear myself whimpering out loud, but then I felt it. An energy buildup from my desire let loose, and the force resulted in a shockwave that radiated out from me in powerful ripples. The murmuring from the people standing around me was silent for a moment, and the ringing in my ears died. My vision cleared as well. Blinking back my stinging tears, I then let my arm fall limply back to my side.

The pain was incredible, but it was done. I focused all my remaining energy on trying not to move as I felt the vacuum of power form around me. I opened my eyes a bit, seeing nothing but unending white. The ghosts of Draconians danced around the pillar, happy and beautiful, their smiles oblivious to my dilemma.

My body left the ground, and the sensations I hadn't felt in five years began to overtake me again. I welcomed them humbly, struggling to keep myself awake.

The pillar began to whisk me by the clouds and the rest of Earth's atmosphere, and I succumbed to my desire to sleep. At that point in time, I didn't care where I ended up anymore.

I just hoped that I didn't die before I got to see Van again.

**Author's Notes:** Well, this is my first time writing an Escaflowne fanfiction. It gets better after this, I promise. Tell me what you think. I'm going with the English spellings of many things because keeping track of Japanese names gets tiring after a while. Additional notes: I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how to indent paragraphs on this stupid system. If I _did_ know, my story would look pretty and you'd all be content and able to easily read it. However, I do not know, so bear with me. I haven't been here in a while.


	2. Remedy

**Over the Sky**

A fanfiction by Lyrael.

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne, though I very much wish I did.

_Remember, when your dreams have ended  
Time can be transcended  
I live forever  
Remember me  
_

_

* * *

_  
The next time my eyes opened, I squinted into the bright light of the sun. It burned, and reflexively I threw my right arm upwards to block out the light. That was a big mistake, as pain tore through my chest and I heard a loud, piercing scream echo around me. Then I realized that the scream had come from my own parched throat, and my eyes stung with tears of agony. I had no idea where I was, or exactly what had happened. But as my eyes adjusted to the light, it slowly dawned on me that I was no longer on Earth.

After the pain subsided, I blinked and lifted my head. My head spun at various speeds and I felt incredibly exhausted, but the sight was worth the very effort. I was lying on a cliff overlooking a dry valley, one that I hadn't seen over five years. The memories came flooding back: everything from Nina the snake to her creepy owner. But the memories that struck me the hardest were the ones that contained feathers, and the visions of the beautiful young man who had just helped me escape imminent death on Earth.

"The dragon graveyard? What am I doing here?" I coughed, immediately making a face. There was a horrible, prominent metallic taste in my mouth. It was caked around my teeth and lips, and I gagged. I tried to spit, but I had no saliva, and my mouth was as dry as rice paper. Wistfully, I let my head drop back to the hard ground, and sighed. Behind the shadows of my eyelids, I could see Van's face, his soft smile…

Under the sun, my body felt like it was baking. I couldn't move myself far, and I knew that there was no trace of green trees and cool shade for miles around. Perhaps I _had_ escaped death, but I was still in some sort of mortal danger. A familiar feeling of frustration settled over my stomach, one that I knew from my past days here, and in vain I tried to turn myself over to get my bearings. Red-hot pain clawed its way through my ribcage, and I used what energy I had left to hold my breath and not scream. I didn't know if I was just trying to be strong or keep myself from expanding my lungs, but the pain burned with a fiery intensity. I eased my body back to the ground, grimacing. So this was how I was doomed to die. I would meet my fated end from starvation and dehydration in the middle of the dragon's graveyard. It was either that or being eaten alive, and that was an image that I wished, as I closed my eyes against the offending rays of the sun, had never crossed my mind.

A sticky warmth began to gather under my breast. Gingerly I touched it, bringing my fingers up to my nose and sniffing shallowly. Copper filled my nostrils, and I recoiled. A dull, throbbing ached pounded under my heart, steadily and rhythmically.

'Van…' I thought, my eyes stinging behind my eyelids. A few tears leaked from the sides of my eyes, and rolled down my cheeks into my hair. 'Where are you…?'

I let my mind go black then, and I had no dreams with the exception of a short vision: crimson eyes glinting beneath raven hair, and bitter tears on my tongue.

I fell asleep for a long time while lying exposed on the hot, dusty rocks. My mind was silent, and I endured the first and only complete darkness of my life. In essence, I suppose it was like my mind had utterly shut down, but had not succumbed to the clutches of death. I was told later on, after I woke up, that I had remained in that stasis for over two weeks, not moving and barely breathing.

When my mind finally restarted, it was abrupt and horrifying. It had been calm, peaceful shadows, and nothing had disturbed me. I was in the deepest hold of a coma that was possible. But the day came when suddenly my brain decided to wake me up, and it was like being startled back to life.

It was black and then insanity; pictures of death, gore, and war clawed their gleeful way through my head, and jumbles of words and pictures followed suit. In my mind's eye I watched the deaths of soldiers during the war on Gaia; I saw them get ripped apart, all within seconds. I witnessed Folken's death about fifty times over in my head, along with the death of his younger, beautiful brother. In my head my moans of horror melted into the collective vociferation, and Van was torn limb from limb not two feet in front of me, his warm blood spattering across my body.

It was watching Van's eyes go blank with lifelessness that flicked the switch inside my skull. The unending screams of agony merged into a horrifically loud, jumbled furor of sound in my mind, and my eyes popped open. My body lurched upwards into a sitting position, and my hands were tearing at my hair and ears. When I opened my mouth, there was a horrible, dry scream ripping from my throat. The bullet wound burned like crazy, and the air in my lungs felt stale.

Suddenly my screams stopped, and I shakily lowered my hands to my sides. My labored breathing, combined with dry, raspy sobs, echoed in the small, darkened space around me.

"Where… where…" my voice sounded unnaturally thick and soft to my ears. I bit my lip against the waves of pain; the mental confusion had disappeared, leaving me alone with reality. I had no idea where I was, but someone had taken me in.

My hands were clutching at a sweat-soaked, scratchy linen blanket, and I realized that I was sitting on a rather lumpy makeshift bed. My left hand tentatively released the blanket, and slid up my stomach to where the entrance wound from the bullet was. I let out a soft gasp as my fingers made contact with tightly bound bandages; someone had taken the time to clean the wounds and stop the bleeding?

The laceration was angry and flared at my touch, and I could hear the gunshot in my ears. I was still wearing my bloodstained tank top from Earth, complete with a hole in the fabric. An amused "humph" passed through my lips.

As I struggled to keep myself sitting up, I began to make sense of where I was. The room around me was dark, but as my eyes adjusted, I began to see things on the walls and floor.

The faint outline of the door was a few feet away, and next to it was a few stacks of clay pottery. My gaze traced the unevenness of the walls, and I figured that I was in a hut of some sort. I looked above me, trying to concentrate on something other than the pain, and I could just make out something that made my heart leap within my chest. Hundreds of white feathers, all strung to the ceiling in a nonsensical arrangement, fluttered and danced over my head. My thoughts immediately went to Van, and heaviness like lead settled in my heart.

I was on Gaia, and I had no doubt of it. But as I crisscrossed my gaze over my surroundings, I felt a twinge of despair. This was obviously not Van's doing, but someone else's; and I couldn't be sure of who it was. Gaia was a relatively hospitable planet, so I began to assume that maybe I was in a village somewhere, hopefully close to Fanelia.

As my body woke up and my nerves and muscles began to tingle from disuse, the cloth door in front of me was flung open. Surprised, I heard myself squeak. The light from outside was bright, but not glaring. My eyes adjusted instantly, and suddenly I was filled with a new hope when I saw who was standing in the doorway.

"Ruhm!" I squealed, a blind delight filling my heart. I heard him chuckle, a sound that I had missed dearly.

"Well little lady," he said jovially, "it's good to see you alive and well." He tucked the door curtain behind a hook, and stepped forward into my room. I could see beyond him to the outside, and curious wolf-children peered in at me, their eyes wide and round. When they saw me looking at them, they fled, giggling and whispering to each other.

"Hitomi," Ruhm began, his expression softening as he sat cross-legged beside my bed. "We almost lost you. And for that reason I  
have not yet contacted any… outsiders about your presence here." He looked at me, as if trying to see if I understood what he was communicating. I nodded slowly. Ruhm had not contacted Van.

I glanced at him, my dirty hands idly playing with the blanket. I had blood caked under my fingernails. "Ruhm… how is Van? I-I want to see him… soon…"

Ruhm smiled, his pointed fangs shiny in the daylight. He laid a strong hand on my thin shoulder. "Van is a King now, Hitomi. I have no doubt in my mind that he will come to see you once a messenger reaches him. But… other matters may keep him away most of the time. Besides," he gestured to my left. I turned and looked, and cringed at what I saw.

A large mirror had been propped up against the wall of the hut. It was ornately carved and perfect down to every last detail, but my reflection was enough to possibly crack its beauty.

I was bruised, scratched, and utterly filthy. My lip was split and swollen, and my face had been cut; there were two shallow, partially healed cuts on my right cheek. I was thin and pale from not eating, and the deep, dark circles under my eyes made me look like I was dead. My hair was matted and caked with blood. I turned away from myself, sucking in air through clenched teeth. I wanted to cry, but I couldn't summon moisture from anywhere in my body.

"Some of the women in the village have volunteered to clean you up," Ruhm said softly. "You're going to need assistance for awhile, and I mean that. You're far too weak to attempt to refuse any help either so," he winked at me, "don't try to be strong and tough, at least for awhile. You need to heal, and by the looks of this wound here, you're going to need a lot of time to do so."

What I did next surprised me – I laughed. It wasn't particularly loud, but a thin smile spread across my swollen lips. "Thank you very much."

Ruhm stood up, and absentmindedly scratched his shoulder. His eyes passed over my bloodstained tank top, and his brow furrowed, as if something had triggered his memory. It was a few seconds and an awkward silence before he spoke.

"Hitomi…" he said, his voice trailing off for a moment, "your wounds. They are peculiar, as I have just recalled."

Puzzled, I stared at him. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that according to various anatomical diagrams that our healing man keeps, whatever passed through your body should have caused enough harm to kill you."

I blinked, absorbing the information. I did remember that after being struck by the bullet on Earth, the right side of my chest had felt like I was carrying a dead weight. I hadn't been able to breathe. My mind spun as I considered the possibilities, and then I knew: the bullet had collapsed my right lung. I laid my right hand over the right side of my chest, and breathed in. And exhaled. Over and over I did this, finding nothing wrong.

On Earth, a punctured lung, if not attended to, ultimately meant death. And here on Gaia… there were no emergency rooms, no professional surgeons, no morphine… no technology. My heart just about stopped beating when the truth hit me – I should have died. But my lung was in working condition, perfect order, and there was no explanation as to why I was alive.

"Ruhm, I-" I said, looking up to try to make sense of my thoughts. But he was already gone.

Only a few minutes after Ruhm left, the village women he had spoken of appeared at my door. They were three soft-spoken widows of the pack; each with their silvery hair gathered in several braids that hung down past their knees and a gentle visage that frightened away my shattered nerves. The first, a tall wolf-woman with a husky voice and nicked ears, bowed humbly and softly introduced herself as Reine. Her eyes were ice blue and hard, but her gaze softened when she surveyed my state of being.

The other two, twins with amber eyes and a tendency to mimic each other, introduced themselves as Tela and Cela. They bowed deeper then Reine had, and remained in that position for a few strange moments. Then the twins quietly turned their backs, and Reine stepped further into my room.

"M'lady Hitomi," she said, sounding as if her tongue was having trouble wrapping itself around my foreign name, "in order to commence treatment, we require that you remove your clothes." Her statement was short and blunt, but she extended both her hands. I lifted my arms as much as I could, and to my surprise, she moved in much closer than I had initially expected. She put hands underneath my armpits, her rough palms tickling me. In a few dizzying seconds, I was lifted from beneath the security of the blanket and placed on my feet.

I stumbled at first, my legs unaccustomed to gravity's forces, but Reine steadied me. I was silent during this whole process, for Reine's stoic aura was intimidating. Tela and Cela remained with their backs turned, not moving. I stared past them, to the outside world, suddenly missing the warmth of the sun.

There was a ripping sound as Reine grasped the back of my tank top and tore it clear down the center of my back. I gasped, but a ripple of pain echoed through my chest as I did so. Reine paused, and I could feel her eyes staring at my bra. She was befuddled by the simple piece of fabric, and I was amused.

"Just unhook it," I said, turning my head slightly. Reine fumbled with the strap for a second, and then my bra fell loose in front of me. I shrugged it off and it fell to the floor, unimportant. A few seconds later, my inner voice laughed, and I felt my cheeks turning red; I was completely exposed!

My skirt slid down to the floor, and I kicked it away, still unsure of my balance. I wobbled a little bit, but as Reine firmly held my shoulders, I heard her let out an involuntary gasp.

"What's wrong?" I inquired, almost afraid to know. Reine was silent behind me, but her hand grabbed my left one, and she bent my left arm comfortably so my fingers were running over my own skin.

My eyes widened as I felt a long, thin, uneven patch of skin that ran from below my neck, across my shoulder blade, and ended just above my hips. "What is that?" I felt my stomach clench uneasily.

"It is a scar, m'lady," she said, her voice shaky. "But… there is another." She moved my hand a little further towards the right side of my back. My arm cramped a little but I ignored it, and underneath my fingertips was another scar, identical in placement and length to the other. She let go of my arm then, and I let it fall back to my side. I was confused, and my ears were buzzing. I certainly didn't remember getting injured any further…

My thoughts, however, slowed and eventually stopped as the women began to clean me up, and make me look like a civilized human being again.

A little less than an hour and a half later, fully bandaged and clothed in brand new clan robes, I tentatively stepped out into the dying rays of the sun. It cast long, oblong shadows over the village and its inhabitants, but it was the most beautiful summer evening I'd witnessed in a long time.

I felt an incredible sense of peace envelop me, and my mind finally stopped buzzing enough to enjoy the laziness of everything.

After a short bath in the nearby river, Reine and the twins had worked diligently for the past hour or so, cleansing and disinfecting my wounds with a strange-smelling salve. I drank a lot of water while they were busy; my thirst felt unquenchable, even though I drank and drank until my stomach felt like it was going to burst. The women hadn't been able to do much about the entrance and exit wounds from the bullet, but they changed the bandages before allowing me to put my bra back on. Reine had frowned slightly when I had insisted upon it, grumbling about no need for it.

The twins had worked on my hair, which had gotten a bit long within the few weeks of my arrival on Gaia. Using thin razors, they expertly cut out some of the more disgusting mats of dry blood in my hair. Tela washed my hair afterwards, using a sweet-smelling soap that reminded me all too much of Amano and Yukari.

Once I was fully clean and bandaged, they tied a loose piece of dyed purple cloth around my back and neck, and slipped me into a colorful skirt that wrapped around a few times before it was tied on the side. Then they draped a long robe around my shoulders. The geometric detail was stenciled on in red, and the fabric felt something akin to silk against my bare shoulders.

And now, as I walked through the village with Tela letting me use her arm to steady myself, I saw the curiosity spreading like wildfire. The children stood near their mothers, but sniffed the air as I walked by. I tried to keep my eyes trained on the ground at my feet, but my surroundings were just too distracting.

Among the wolf-people I could hear whispers, and I knew what they were saying, for there was no doubt in my mind that Ruhm had informed the adults of his human guest.

Tela and Cela led me to a clearing that was on the other side of the village, but I never paid attention to where we were going; instead, I was analyzing everything I saw.

The village where Ruhm and his people lived was easily about half the size of Fanelia, if not a little bigger. It was organized into streets of huts and small shops, and some of the streets were lined with young trees. Children played in the streets with balls and sometimes I could catch a glimpse of a game that involved a hoop and a petrified rabbit-looking creature.

I sighed, taking in everything that surrounded me. We passed many fruit and meat stands, where transactions took place in a friendly, street-market atmosphere. It reminded me a lot of Asturia's market, which had always been bustling with activity. I closed my eyes for a few moments when my memory drifted across the city and the recollections that I had spent the last five years erasing from my mind.

I did think with fondness of Allen Schezar from time to time, but only of his companionship. After a while, I stopped thinking of him, as I had with most of Gaia. My thoughts had only stayed with the most important person to me, and he was far away in Fanelia.

Though we had only been walking a short time, my legs had grown very tired. It was harder for me to keep my balance with every passing second, and I started to lean more on Tela.

"M'lady?" she said, her amber eyes flickering to meet my gaze. I managed a weak smile.

"I'm tired, is all." My voice sounded exhausted to my own ears, even though I had spent the last two weeks sleeping.

Tela nodded, and turned her eyes straight ahead again. "Don't worry, m'lady," she said, gesturing with her free hand. "Our destination is there."

I blinked, and my eyes fell upon the area she had indicated. Underneath a large tree were a few villagers, and Ruhm was in the middle of the group, addressing them. Standing next to him was a petite young cat-woman with soft pink hair and very familiar ears, and I suddenly knew why Tela and Cela had brought me here.

The petite cat-woman noticed us approaching, and her reaction was almost laughably hysterical. Her eyes grew insanely round and her jaw dropped.

My exhaustion disappeared as I tilted back my head and laughed, removing myself from Tela's assurance and stepping forward on my own. As she bounded toward me, I spread my arms as far as I could, and a spunky young cat named Merle gave me the gentlest fierce hug I'd ever received in my life

"Hitomi!" Merle shrieked, hugging me carefully, and then stepping back to survey me. I grinned, a bit embarrassed.

"I'm sorry I look horrible," I said, "but that's what happens when you get shot."

Merle tilted her head. "Shot? By what, an arrow?"

"No," I replied, with a thin smile; she had still retained her old innocence. "I got shot by a gun."

"What's a gun?" she asked, and the following silence was so awkward that we just giggled at each other after a few moments. "It's wonderful to see you, though, wounds, scrapes, scratches, and all." She grinned, her pointed teeth showing.

I doubted that if I had been crippled and scarred beyond repair that she would've cared. Merle clapped her hands together, more than exuberant to see me.

"Oh Hitomi, it's been so long," she said, her voice still the same high, squeaky pitch it had been when I'd left. "I was beginning to wonder when you were going to wake up!"

I was amazed on one hand, for most traces of Merle's brash, bratty attitude had disappeared, or were, at the very least, hidden away. But I was incredulous on the other, because she had grown into a very pretty young woman. Her pink-hued hair hung in ringlets down to her shoulders, and she had grown in height (but not more than two inches). She barely looked like she was five years older, but in my experience, cat-people looked inanely young until they were on their deathbeds.

"Hitomi," she said, laying her tiny, delicately clawed hands on my shoulders. "You look so tired… but you're suddenly so pretty now! Where's the funny-looking girl I remember from so long ago?"

Ah, there it was. Her brazen sense of humor came back to bite me like a pissed off cat, but I was so grateful to hear her words that I hugged her as tightly as my body would allow me. "Merle… we have a lot to talk about," I said. She nodded, and let me take her arm. We walked slowly to the large tree where Ruhm had been a few minutes before, and beneath the cool shade of its thick branches, the last five years came and went.

** Author's Notes: **I figured that it would be slightly easier to read if I didn't try to make it look like my original document on Word. I feel kind of stupid about this whole thing, so I may just take the fic down anyway. But thanks to those of you who've read so far.


	3. Recollections

**Over The Sky**

A fanfiction by Lyrael

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne, though I very much wish I did.

_So you're back on those treasured days  
We were young in a world that was so tired  
Though it's not what we wanted before  
Even the saints had to crawl from the floor_

* * *

It was well into the blue-gray blanket of the night when Merle and I, along with Ruhm who had sat down to casually listen in, moved away from reminiscing. I had told her of Amano and Yukari, and my life on "the Mystic Moon". Merle had punctured my stories with child-like questions about life on Earth, her eyes so full of a cat-like curiosity that I had laughed until my wounds burned. 

When I had finished filling her in on pretty much everything that had happened to me in the past few years, the topic of conversation moved on to the happenings of Gaia, and how the planet had begun the harrowing process of repairing itself from the debilitating effects of war.

"How's Fanelia?" I asked, wondering if I could avoid the topic of Van. Thoughts of him had been plaguing me since I'd awakened from my coma, and I couldn't get rid of the images of his body being blown to pieces in front of me. It circled round and round in my head as Merle described the rebuilding efforts.

"Well… the castle is pretty much restored to what it used to be. So are the major areas of the city. Everyone seems pretty optimistic about finishing it off now. We've made a lot of progress since you left." She beamed, her ears perking up slightly. As I watched her talk, I began to see the entrancing cat twins, Nariya and Eriya, in the cat-woman before me. The way she moved and tilted her head when she talked was heavily reminiscent of the Folken's cat henchmen.

And then I realized why the cats hadn't attacked when Merle had stepped in front of Van, when he had frozen in Escaflowne.

"Merle," I interrupted, feeling the familiar prickling sensation of tears behind my eyes; my body had finally re-hydrated itself enough to cry. "How… how is Van?" There. It was out in the open.

Merle smiled knowingly, but hid it somewhat successfully. "Well, Hitomi. I was wondering when you were gonna ask!" She went on to tell me that Fanelia's young ruler was healthy and, with all respect, a good king. I could see the soft pride she had for her adopted brother in her eyes.

"But, Hitomi," she added, arching an eyebrow, "he's still unwed, and he's not betrothed to anyone…" she laughed. "I'd say you still have a chance, Seeress." The last word of her sentence brought back old, awkward memories from my first times on Gaia. I smiled, feeling the effects of my body repairing itself. It felt like all my energy was being rerouted to the closing and healing of my lacerations and bruises. The entrance and exit wounds felt hot and slightly uncomfortable, but I forced myself to ignore it.

We talked more of Fanelia until Earth and the Moon were low in the sky, and Ruhm had fallen asleep in the crook of the tree's roots.

Merle yawned, and stretched in a way that reminded me of Miya, Yukari's kitten. "C'mon Hitomi," she said, standing up and moving to my side as I got up. The aches and pains had started to fade, a welcome effect of the medicine Reine and the twins had administered a few hours before. "You're sleeping in my room tonight." She slid her arm around my lower back and steadied me as I got up, but I was surprised at how easy moving had become.

After stirring Ruhm from his sleep, we walked slowly back to Merle's guest hut, a small but welcoming room that was situated in a group of guest huts. The guest housing was only a short distance away from the cluster of medicinal huts where I had woken up earlier that day.

Merle helped me up the step into her guest hut with the determination of a fierce kitten; although it was easier, moving around was still a bit of an effort for me.

A lantern hung from the center of the thatched roof, and small moth-like insects fluttered around the dancing flame. There were two beds in the hut, quite unlike what I had woken up on. They were comfortable mattresses, held up on a wood frame, and filled with fluffy down. Merle lent me her arm so I could sit down.

"So comfy," I said with a smile, my voice barely hiding relief. A soft blanket lay folded at the end of the bed, and an equally soft pillow was at the other.

"Here Hitomi," Merle said, digging into her bags and throwing a lump of linen at me. I blinked as it fell in my lap.

"What's this?" I asked, holding it up with my left hand and waving it around a bit, hoping to figure out what it was used for.

"It's a nightgown, silly," she said matter-of-factly, quickly swiping it from me and magically holding it the right way. "It's a gown that you use for nighttime." I laughed softly.

"I know what a nightgown is, stupid," I held out my hand for it again, "but thanks for lending it to me."

She waved a clawed hand. "What are old friends for? I think you might need to help undressing though. Do you mind?"

I laughed at her. "Just don't get your fingers caught in my bandages."

We were laughing about Ruhm as she gently pulled my cloak from my shoulders and dropped it to the floor.

"Hey, do you remember that time when we first met?" she was asking, "when I stole your – oh, Hitomi." Her voice sounded panicked, so I began to panic too.

"What's wrong?" I asked, craning my neck as far as I could over my shoulder. At first I thought she had seen a bloodstain on my fresh bandages, but as I felt her finger tracing one of my mysterious scars, I knew she had fallen silent for another reason.

"Hitomi… do you know what these are?" I turned slowly to face her, and the expression she wore confused me at first.

"Merle, the wolf-woman Reine was the same… I woke up with those. What do you know?" Panic had left me: this time, it was curiosity that was tingling through my nerves. Merle looked off to the side, her ears flattening a little.

"Right after they disappear… I see what you have on Van."

My head spun – I knew what "they" were, and very well. "They" had carried Van and I out of Dornkirk's palace so many years ago; "they" were what Van had always been ashamed of.

I bit my lip, taking an unsteady step backwards. I wobbled a little, but Merle caught me. "Hitomi, I need to know something," she said, and I could sense an urgency that Merle never used. "When you came back to us, to Gaia, were you about to… to die? I mean, Ruhm told me your injuries had been pretty bad when he found you, but he never went into any detail…"

I nodded, my hand covering the bullet wound. It was buried beneath layers of bandages, but the dull ache refreshed itself every time I took a deep breath. "I was shot, remember?" I said. Merle and I sat together on my bed as I recounted what had happened on Earth. "A man shot me outside a bakery, you know… it's like a stand in the market that sells bread. I remember not being able to breathe. And I remember that, right as I felt myself start to die, I wished to come back here, to be with Van." I felt my cheeks burn as I told her my last wish before I had appeared on Gaia. "And I remember the pillar forming around me, and taking me into the clouds. And that's the last thing I remember before waking up this morning."

Merle was quiet for a few moments, and then she turned her wide-eyed gaze to me. "Hitomi, do you want me to tell you what happened when you got here?" she asked.

I nodded, although I wasn't entirely sure that I wanted to hear.

"Well, Ruhm told me that he was checking up on some old tribe borders for another tribe of wolves when they found you. It was definitely a good thing they did, too. They took you back to the other tribe's village first, and after about 5 days they decided to move you here.

"He also mentioned to me that you were surrounded by millions of white feathers. Some had scattered with the breeze, of course, but they scooped up the majority of them. You probably saw some of them above you when you woke up today, right?"

I nodded, too dumbfounded to find words. Ruhm had forgotten to mention the feathers, and I wondered what else he knew.

"But the point I'm trying to get at here is that I think these feathers," she said, idly touching the tips of her fingers together, "came from you."

I stared at her profile for a moment, trying to absorb what she said. "What do you mean by that?"

"I don't know," she replied, returning my gaze. She looked like her cattish curiosity was piqued. "You did say that your grandmother came here from the Mystic Moon, many years ago, right?"

"Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?" My question hung in the air for a few awkward moments before Merle could actually respond.

"Well… there have been tales," she said, gesturing broadly, "of Draconians, like Van's momma, going to the Mystic Moon. I never believed them, to be honest. But I think we might have something here."

I was incredulous, but her proposed theory made sense. After all, if my grandmother had been able to go to Gaia…

"Tell me Hitomi," she said, turning a curious gaze towards me. "What do you think you know about your parents?"

* * *

The next morning, when the sunlight peered over the mountains, Merle and I were already making our way deep into the forest. I was slower, of course, but we were making good time. Merle walked ahead of me, a colorful sack hanging from her left shoulder. I was feeling a lot better, and Merle had agreed to let me walk on my own. She wore an outfit much like my own: a long, expertly sewn skirt, and a thin cloth that was tied around her neck and mid-back. 

We had gone to sleep that night on a promise that Merle would try to help me figure out what was going on with me.

A short while after the sun had pulled itself into the sky, we arrived in a wide clearing. Merle helped me take a seat on a fallen log while she checked around the borders of the clearing. She came bounding back a few minutes later. "It's all clear… but what I'm going to tell you might sound a little strange."

I shifted in my seat, and sighed. Over the course of the night, much of the pain from my superficial wounds had vanished, but I was still stiff. My stomach gurgled grouchily; as if on cue, Merle reached into her sack and pulled out a flat piece of brown bread. It was a bit thicker than a tortilla, and it tasted sweet, like honey. I crammed it into my mouth and attempted to chew while Merle laughed at my hunger.

"Shut up," I grumbled once I swallowed, throwing various twigs at her. She just gave me a pointed grin.

"All right Hitomi, time to work," she said, placing her hands on her hips. "I'm not sure how Van does what he does… but he said once that he just concentrates or something. I don't remember." She smiled nervously. "You should stand up if you're going to try this. I just wanna see if those are really what they look to be."

I stood up slowly, quite proud that I could ignore what little pain now came from the bullet wound. "Okay, so you want me to concentrate? What should I concentrate on?"

Merle shrugged. "You think I know? Just think about flying, I guess."

So I did what she suggested: I closed my eyes and thought about flying. I remembered the many times Van had held me in his arms while we flew; I wondered when I would see him again, and why he hadn't known I was here initially. Our mental link had provided limited but clear communication between Earth and Gaia. Why didn't he respond when I called to him? I thought about falling when a large blast had shaken apart the dragon graveyard, and I remembered him catching me as I fell into the dark abyss.

The world around me began to fade into a monochromatic gray, and Merle's face disappeared from my vision. The frustration built in my chest. I had so many unanswered questions, and I wanted someone to tell me why I had been saved. I wanted to know how Yukari and Amano were back on Earth; did they remember where I had gone when I disappeared for the first time?

I remembered Fanelia, and I remembered Van trapped inside a blackened Escaflowne, his life fading. The gray darkened into a deep blue hue, and I remembered falling, falling…

Something opened my eyes then. The vision I had witnessed just over two weeks ago, before I had fallen deep into a coma, refreshed itself in my mind. In my head I could see Van's face, and his eyes glinted at me from beneath his raven bangs. Suddenly I was pulled backwards, and a new vision began. I was standing in the forest where Escaflowne slept.

I saw him then, an older, more beautiful King who had lost all traces of adolescent awkwardness. Van sat by Escaflowne's feet. My scars burned horribly, and I felt like they were going to burn right through my bandages. The vision continued, and I saw Van stand up. He looked sorrowful, and his shoulders slumped with the invisible weight of sadness. His hand was wrapped around something near his neck, and I squinted to see what it was. His hand dropped to his side, and my own pendant sparkled in the sun. The vision faded then, and ended.

The gray world around me shattered as I fell to my knees in reality, trying too hard to breathe. Merle was in front of me, one of her hands on my shoulder.

"What happened to you Hitomi? 'Cause I sure know what happened while you were lost in your head."

"What do you mean, and how do you know I was lost in my head?" I panted. My scars felt normal again.

"Oh, it's obvious when you get lost in there," she said, poking my forehead. "You get this weird blank look on your face. It's always been like that with you."

I frowned. "I had a vision, okay? But what do you mean? What happened while I was 'lost in my head'?" I sat back and tried to stand, but my legs wobbled. I chose to stay on the ground.

"Well," Merle began, "you got that look on your face, so I knew that you were out there. But something weird happened in the few seconds before you came out of the trance. You started whispering some really weird language, and the air felt really cold all of the sudden… but that's it."

"Oh," I replied, feeling disappointed. I wanted so badly for the questions I had to be answered. But then I remembered the vision.

"Merle, have you been in touch with Van lately?" I wondered if maybe the only reason he thought I was dead was because no one had told him the truth.

She shook her head. "The last time I saw Lord Van was about a month ago. The only reason I'm at Ruhm's village right now is because I was passing through about a week ago, and he told me that he'd found you."

"Merle, I saw him in my vision. I had contact with him right before I came here, but then I got cut off. I thought that he'd helped to rescue me… but I guess he thinks that I've died." I touched my hand to my temple, exasperated. This was far more than I wanted to deal with.

"Hitomi, I'm going to stay with you for the time being. Ruhm said that at the rate you're going, you'll be healed enough to travel in about a week, so he didn't bother to send any messengers. We'll surprise Van then, okay? Fanelia is less than half a day's ride from here." Merle  
touched my arm lightly. "I know you miss him. But I promise you that we'll see him soon."

* * *

Merle and I walked back from the clearing without incident, and we arrived at the village before too long. Many young wolf-children scampered about in the streets, stopping and staring as Merle and I passed. A dusty ball rolled into my path as we neared the guest housing, and I paused and picked it up. A little boy, completely without clothing and not much taller than my knee, summoned the courage to come up to me. 

"You want the ball?" I said, offering it to him. He gave me a shy grin before quickly taking the ball and running back to his friends.

I heard Merle giggling, and I turned. "What?"

"I never knew you were so good with kids," she laughed. "Don't worry. They'll warm up to you eventually. They don't see many people like you around here."

As we neared the guest housing, we passed a hut that I hadn't noticed before. The entrance was decorated with many of the white feathers that had hung in my medical room. Also hanging from the doorway was a various assortment of animal skulls and bones, along with other feathers from birds. I stopped in the road.

Merle kept walking, but soon saw that I wasn't with her anymore. "Hitomi!" she shouted back at me, "what are you doing?"

"These are the feathers that were in my room," I replied, catching one in my hand as it swayed in the breeze. It was soft and downy, like a chick. Merle came back and stood next to me, looking at the assortment of feathers.

"These are really pretty," she said, touching a long, greenish feather. It looked like it had come from a peacock.

"I'm afraid I took those feathers without asking permission," a voice said from within the shadows of the hut, startling Merle and I. A short, old woman emerged from the shadows, her eyes crinkling with a broad smile. Her salt and pepper hair was plaited, and hung over her shoulder. "My name is Resha. You must be the Seeress from the Mystic Moon, no?"

I found myself bowing stiffly. "Hitomi, miss. You can call me Hitomi."

The old wolf-woman nodded, her smile never faltering. "And you, little cat. You are Merle?"

Merle nodded slowly. Confusion was etched into her expression.

Resha directed her attention back to me. "You have met my younger sister, yes? Her name is Reine. She took care of you when you first woke up."

I felt slightly more comfortable after she connected herself to Reine, but I was still curious. "Yes, I met her yesterday morning. She's very kind."

Resha seemed pleased. "I'm glad you speak such kind words of her. But she confessed to me, last night, of something infinitely curious. She spoke of two scars on your back. They exist, yes?" I nodded again, speechless.

"Might I ask you, young Hitomi, that you might come into my home? I believe I know the answers to some questions you might have."

My heart skipped a beat – she knew answers? Resha disappeared back into the shadows of her home. I turned to Merle, making sure to keep my voice low. "Do you know who she is?"

Merle nodded. "Ruhm told me about her. Ever since they brought you here, she would come every day to see you for a few minutes. Ruhm said she might know something – she is, after all, their resident witch doctor. Ruhm says she's in touch with the planet, more so than any other person of Gaia."

"I think we should go in, then," I whispered. Merle slipped her arm around mine, and we entered Resha's house.

Inside Resha's home was unlike anything I'd ever seen before, even in other places on Gaia. The decorations continued from the outside of her home, sprawling across the thatched ceiling. Bones, jewels, and feathers… she had it all. Her hut was slightly larger than most I had seen, with a central fire pit and even a small bedroom area. Resha shuffled forward, and took a seat next to the fire, sighing. She smiled at me.

"Ah… old age, it does a person well." She flicked her wrist, and the burning fire flared bluish-purple. Merle stood close to me, eyeing the fire suspiciously. Resha chuckled, and held out her hand.

"Take my hand, Hitomi," she coughed. I reached forward, and did as she asked. A moment passed before I realized that my palm was incredibly hot, and I flinched, letting out a yelp of pain. I shook my hand furiously, and began to blow small puffs of air on my skin, but then I saw it.

Branded into my hand was a bright, but slowly fading red mark. It was intricate in detail, and looked like something from the time period of the Aztecs. Merle gasped behind me. "Hitomi! What happened to your hand?" I stared hard at Resha.

"What was that?" I demanded. "Why did you hurt me?"

Resha chuckled again, pausing this time to cough heartily. "I didn't hurt you, child. What I did was simply a test, yes? It was only to determine what you are. Look at your palm, it should be fine now."

I bit my lip, and looked at my hand. Indeed, the mark had disappeared, leaving behind a faint pink burn. "Well, if the test was a success, what am I?"

Resha only peered at me through slitted eyes. "You're exactly what I thought you were. You, my dear Hitomi," she paused, drawing a design in the ashes of the fire pit with a clawed finger, "have been reborn, as a gift from Gaia, our own Mother."

"What do you mean, reborn?" I ventured, taking a step forward. Resha held up a hand, her palm flat and facing me, and I was rooted to the spot. My wounds burned viciously for a few moments, and I clenched my teeth. An invisible wind blew up from around my feet, disrupting all the artifacts hanging from the ceiling.

"What is this?" I said, surprised at the loudness of my voice. Merle had backed up to the doorway. My skirt flapped around my knees, and the chiming of bells from somewhere in the hut grew louder. Two lines of searing hot pain ripped down my back. My scars felt like they were on fire.

"You are a new person, Hitomi," Resha shouted over the roaring of the wind. "But your old blood, the blood you were born with, fueled that birth!"

I moaned as the edges of my vision began to blur. The scars burned ever hotter, and I knew that they were probably glowing like red-hot coals. The last noise I heard was the intense sound of ripping flesh, and I slumped forward onto the floor.

When my eyes opened again, I was laying on the bed in Resha's hut. Resha had her back turned to me, and I could smell food roasting on the fire, which was back to its normal color. I breathed deeply and sat up. My back felt sore, but the fiery pains of when Resha had held me fast were gone. Much of the pain I had been experiencing before had faded into obscurity as well.

At the noise of my stirring, Resha turned around, eyeing me warmly. "Ah, feeling better, Hitomi?"

I nodded. "How long was I out for?" I stretched and yawned, hearing my back crack a few times.

"About ten minutes," she said with a small smile. She shuffled over to me with a small glass of water. "Here, have a drink. You might feel parched after that ordeal, no?"

"A little." I took the glass from her and drained it in less than a minute. "Thanks."

Resha took the glass from me, and set it by the fire. "Tell me, Hitomi," she said, gently touching my arm, "do you know what kind of blood flows through your veins?"

I must have looked puzzled, for she simply laughed. "I take that as a no. Well then… I won't spoil the fun of finding out for yourself."

"What?" I responded, disappointed. "I don't even get a hint?"

Resha grunted, picking up a bulging sack from the floor. "It spoils the fun. Don't worry, Seeress. You'll find out in time. Merle is outside." A few downy white feathers spilled from the sack.

I stood with an eyebrow raised, and bowed shortly. "It was nice meeting you." I then moved across the hut, and ran outside, no pain hindering me.

Merle was sitting in a circle with many of the village children, leading them in a singsong clapping game. Most of them were enjoying it, and didn't even blink an eye when I sat next to Merle, and joined in.

When they reached the end of the song, the children stood up and happily bid Merle goodbye. When they had all gone, Merle and I sat in silence for a few moments.

"Merle," I began, "what happened in Resha's hut?"

She gave me a curious look, but I could tell she was hiding a smile.

"You'd never believe me if I told you," she said, staring out at the mountains in the distance. "You are truly one of us, Hitomi. I don't know why you were up there for so long." She grew quiet again, but she smiled. "Hitomi, do you still love Lord Van?"

My frustration with the evasiveness of both Resha and Merle left me. I followed Merle's gaze up to the Mystic Moon, which was white and pale in the sky.

"I never stopped loving him," I replied. "We stayed in touch, you know. The last thing he said to me, right before I came here, was 'come back, Hitomi'." Do you think he knew what was going to happen?"

Merle shook her head. "That's impossible. But I do know that he loves you, and that he misses you something terrible. Sometimes, he would get real quiet for weeks on end, and every time this happened, he always said, 'I miss her, Merle'. He didn't have to say anything more."

I was quiet, letting all that she said soak in. For the past five years, I'd tried to make myself forget about this place, and I had, little by little. Van had never faded in my mind's eye, but now that Gaia had welcomed me back, I saw no reason to delay things any further.

"I want to see him again." I let my gaze fall into line with Merle's. She was smiling, and I could see tears hiding in the corners of her large eyes.

"I know," she said. "I know."

** Author's Notes:** Well, I'm very sorry I didn't update for awhile. An excursion to Europe for two weeks, and then a vacation at the beach for another week have held me back. But I'm here again, and with more chapters! Yay! By the way, I like to draw Escaflowne fanart, and even though I'm not very good, I would like it if you all would take a peek. The URL is: http/ivoiredepoison. Well, the next chapter is coming soon, but it needs a little work; however, it is the longest chapter yet. They keep getting longer, omg!


	4. First Flight

**Over The Sky**

A fanfiction by Lyrael

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne, though I very much wish I did.

_Look up, I look up at night_  
_Planets are moving at the speed of light  
_ _Climb up, up in the trees  
Every chance that you get  
Is a chance you seize  
_

_

* * *

_A few days passed before I was entirely well enough to travel. My back was sore, and after trying and trying to get an answer out of Merle, I gave up. She wouldn't tell me what had happened, so I started to doubt that anything major had occurred.

On the sixth day after I woke up from my coma, Ruhm came to Merle's guest hut, followed by two horse-like creatures on leads.

"Merle, Hitomi!" he shouted into our room. We were already awake and packing, so he hadn't startled us.

I poked my head out of the hut. "Are those what we're riding to Fanelia?" I stepped out of the hut to take a better look.

Ruhm laughed, and loosely tied the leads to a post outside the hut. "Yeah. You're leaving pretty soon, and I've arranged for you two to travel with one of our trading convoys that's headed to Fanelia. Don't worry, they're harmless most of the time."

I blew a strand of hair out of my face, and made a face at him. "If they're lecherous at all, you'll be hearing from me."

"If they're at all lecherous, I'll deal with them accordingly before I ever hear from you," he replied, laughing. "Hitomi, it was a pleasure to have you as my guest here. Pass my regards along to King Van."

I bowed. "Thank you for taking care of me."

Ruhm crossed his arms over his broad chest, looking me up and down. "I'm sure you'd stun him into a stupor, no matter what you looked like." He reached out and ruffled my hair. "The convoy's near the center of town. Merle knows where to go. It was nice to see you again, little lady."

I watched him disappear around the bend before I went back inside.

* * *

The sun was high in the sky by the time Merle and I met up with the convoy in the center of the village. More horse-like beasts tossed their heads, attached to many wagons full of produce. The convoy began to move out of town after a short while, and we were instructed to ride towards the back, near the group of guards that flanked the last wagons. 

The convoy moved slowly, but the pace was steady, and we traveled on a shaded path that ran along a steep, rocky cliff.

Merle and I rode in periods of silence, breaking it only to gape and gawk at the prettiness of our surroundings.

It was well after lunchtime when a young guard fell in step with us, withdrew two strange-looking fruits and offered them to us. Merle took them with a smile and as much of a bow as riding a horse-beast would let her. She handed one to me, and immediately started peeling hers apart with gusto.

I stared down at the fruit in my hands. "How am I supposed to open this thing?" I asked, holding it out.

Merle glanced up at me, her mouth already full of green fruit flesh. "Oh," she said, swallowing. "You just rip that top stem there, and peel it back. Be careful though, these are really ripe and squishy."

"A-ha," I said, unconvinced. Still, I tugged at the top stem, and it ripped off easily. I held the fruit up to my nose and sniffed – it smelled something like a mango.

With unsure fingers, I pried the rest of the skin off of the fruit, licking my fingers after I was done. I sank my teeth into the ripe flesh, and was surprised to find that it tasted more like a banana. I finished it quickly, and my stomach gurgled happily.

Merle was feeding her horse-beast the fruit's peels when I saw something off in the distance. I squinted; there was something floating over the valley.

"Merle," I said, tilting my head in confusion. "What's that over there?"

She looked in the direction I was pointing, and I could see her body tense as she tried to discern what it was.

"Oh," she said after a moment, "it's a dragon."

"A what?" I cried, remembering my bad experience with a dragon before I had first come to Gaia.

"Don't worry," she giggled. The dragon's form grew larger, and soon it was floating past. The dragon was long and serpentine, and its bluish scales refracted the sunlight. It had a canine face, and its legs were more like a dog's legs than the chicken-legged lizards I had seen on Gaia five years ago. It's long body curled and uncurled in the breeze, and as it passed, it turned its head and met my gaze. It blinked slowly, and paused in the air, as if studying me. The dragon's body rippled around it, giving it an ethereal look. I had never seen a dragon as beautiful and harmless as this one; the ones I had seen before on Gaia were malevolent and bad-tempered.

"Hey fellows," I heard a guard call from the back of the convoy, "it's a sea dragon! Let's give it something to eat."

From the corner of my eye, I could see various kinds of fruit being hurled out towards the sea dragon. It broke away from my gaze, and moved to catch the fruit.

"Wow," I heard Merle say, "sea dragons are rare these days. I wonder what it's doing out here?" The dragon moved quickly and gracefully through the air, and I found myself transfixed.

The guards soon got tired of throwing fruit to the gentle dragon, and soon the it disappeared into the distance, moving with the river towards the sea.

* * *

A few hours after the dragon had passed the convoy, Merle and I began talking more of my life on the Mystic Moon. It was a subject that was rarely touched upon, even when time was of no essence. 

She was fascinated by the fact that humans on Earth had created machines to do most of their bidding.

"If you ask me," she said, "it's much better to do things by hand. It might take longer, but the result is something to personally be proud of."

I smiled; she did have a point. "That's true. Machines can be something of a problem, sometimes. They can have bugs, and sometimes they completely stop working."

"You mean they decide to just quit?" she asked, eyes wide.

"No," I laughed, "bad things happen to them, so they stop working. Machines don't know they exist on the Mystic Moon."

Merle looked confused, so I decided to change the subject. "So what about life here, Merle? I never knew the real story behind you."

"Well," she began, "it's a long story, trust me." Merle never got to finish.

Less than a minute after she began to tell her own tale, my chest tightened inexplicably. "Merle," I hissed. "Shh. Something's wrong."

"What do you mean?" she said in a hushed tone of voice.

My eyes scanned the trees up ahead, looking for any disturbances. "I think something's coming. Something bad." The wind slid playfully along the edge of the forest, and a cloud of dust was kicked up into the air.

"What do you mean?" she replied fearfully. Merle had shrunk into her saddle.

"I don't know, but it feels like what I used to sense when I was last here," I said. The tightening in my chest got worse, and in my mind's eye the pendant swung in circles, until it finally swung in one direction: ahead of us.

"But the war's long been over," she whispered back. I could see her hands tightly clutching the reigns.

"I know," I said, and then the tight feeling intensified tenfold. Up ahead, the trees growing on the side of the path were suddenly blasted apart, and the familiar rippling of an invisible Zaibach guymelef shook the air.

"A guymelef?" I shouted above the noise. I saw two more move from the trees, and several wagons from the convoy were tossed over the cliff's edge into the valley. "Merle," I yelled, jumping from my horse-beast. I landed shakily, but I caught myself, silently cursing my unsteady balance. "Get off! We need to run!"

She obeyed quickly, leaving her things on the horse-beast. The forest next to us splintered, and I could see the rippling of more invisible shields. My eyes widened and my heart began to race in my chest. I grabbed Merle's arm and we began to run as fast as we could. I glanced back as we stumbled past tipped wagons, and I saw our beasts get tossed over the edge.

"Gotta get off the cliff," I chanted breathlessly to myself, "get off the cliff, get off the cliff, get off the cliff…" I kept repeating my mantra as we ran. The liquid metal shots of Crima Claws buried themselves in the ground near our feet, which only prompted us to run as fast as we could.

"Hitomi, they're up ahead!" Merle cried, and she was right. A few now-visible guymelefs stood there, waiting to intercept us.

"Merle," I said, out of breath, "there's only one thing we can do…"

"What's that?" she responded, apparently still full of energy. I glanced to my left; the ground dropped off completely into a steep cliff.

"We've gotta get off the cliff," I said, and we ran towards it.

"Hitomi, this is crazy!" Merle shouted as we stopped at the edge, teetering. A few rocks tumbled over, and fell into the valley below.

"I know," I replied, catching my breath. "But it's our only option right now, so we're gonna take it!" With that, I tipped my weight over the edge, and we started to fall.

The air rushed noisily past us, but I never let go of Merle's arm. Instead, I searched my brain for something that could save us. I closed my eyes as we fell, thinking about what Van would do if he'd been with us. He'd probably spread his wings, and catch us effortlessly…

"Merle, hold on!" I shouted over the noise, and I saw her nod. She had confidence in me, but she was still shaking. I stretched out my free arm, and soon we were freefalling, holding on to each other for dear life. Merle was whimpering as the river below us started to grow larger.

I remembered the searing hot pain of my scars in Resha's hut, and I suddenly knew what I had to do. I inhaled deeply; the ground was approaching quickly, and if I hesitated too long…

"Here goes nothing," I breathed. I scrunched my eyes shut, and then I heard a curious ripping noise; suddenly we weren't falling as fast.

When I opened my eyes, white feathers were cascading around me, and Merle was screaming, "Dammit Hitomi, FLY!"

I searched my mind and with a renewed confidence, I tightened the muscles of my wings, and soared upwards of the cushions of wind. Merle's added weight was a challenge, and once the thermals grew weak, I had to beat my wings furiously to stay aloft. However, we caught a particularly warm cushion of air, and within a few moments, we burst like a bullet through the clouds and into Gaia's upper atmosphere. Merle's tail was fluffed out and she wore a frazzled expression, as if she'd just had a bucket of ice cold water dumped on her.

Flying beyond the clouds was easier than below them, for the jet stream-like winds gave us extra lift. As we soared ever higher, the feeling of the rushing winds through my hair and feathers was ecstatic.

I burst out laughing, and it was louder than I'd ever laughed in my entire life.

"C'mon, Merle," I cried to her, "we're _flying_ to Fanelia."

* * *

The sun was warm on my back as we flew, and Merle was hugging me tightly. She was still shaking, but somehow I knew that it was because she didn't like the height. We were soaring lower now, but we were still over the clouds in some places, as we were trying to avoid being seen by the guymelefs. 

"Merle," I said after a while, trying to coax her into talking. "What do you think Zaibach's guymelefs are still doing around?"

She was quiet for a moment. "I don't know, but it seemed like they were coming after something pretty important." She scowled pointedly at me. "They never randomly attacked fruit convoys, even when the war was full-scale. There's something weird going on, but Gaia has been at peace for a while now."

I sighed, and relaxed my wings. We dropped a few feet in altitude, just enough for me to see where we were going. Forests grew thinner beneath us, and soon there were acres upon acres of farms and fallow land speeding by.

"Hitomi," Merle said meekly. I looked down at her for a moment.

"Yes?"

She shifted a bit in my arms, relaxing. She had finally stopped trembling. "Thanks for saving me." I felt a small smile touch my lips.

"What are friends for?" The muscles where my wings met the flesh of my back began to burn faintly.

"You're beautiful, Hitomi." Merle said softly, and her voice was almost lost among the rushing winds. I didn't answer her, but all was well for the time being.

* * *

"We're almost home!" Merle let out a cry of delight as we neared a barren area of land, devoid of all trees and vegetation. In the near distance, I could just make out Fanelia's main gates. "We're almost there, Hitomi." 

"Good," I groaned, "because my energy is gone." We dropped even lower, and in a few minutes, we came in for a relatively peaceful landing. Merle tentatively let go of me, her thin shoulders shaking again.

I dropped to my knees, and my wings burst into a cloud of white feathers that drifted lazily away on the breeze. I was breathing hard, and my bullet wounds began to ache. I realized that I was trembling, for flying such a distance for the first time had physically drained me.

Merle kneeled down beside me, placing a warm hand on my shoulder. "You okay, Hitomi?"

I coughed a few times, but I grinned at her. "I'm fine."

Merle patted my back, and then laughed. "At least you don't suffer from what I like to called 'Ripped Shirt Syndrome'. Van always manages to destroy his nice shirts when he flies."

I reached back with one arm, and felt the shirt; the way the fabric had originally been tied provided a large patch of bare skin. I rocked back onto my heels and stood; Fanelia loomed in the near distance, hiding behind newly rebuilt walls. The ground was warm and sharply rocky, and my feet were bare. Even though the soles of my feet were soft, I learned to ignore the sharp stones and pebbles.

"I'm starting to wish we never left those beasts behind," I said after awhile. The sun was beating down on our bare shoulders with all its intensity.

"Hitomi," Merle said some time later, "what about your wings? Are you going to tell Lord Van about them?"

I stared at the clouds for a moment before answering. "Do you think I should? I was thinking about waiting for a while. It's going to be more than a shock when we see each other again. Maybe they should just… remain a secret for now." I looked at her for reassurance. "Don't tell him, okay? I… want to surprise him."

Merle smacked my arm lightly. "Fine, I promise. I won't tell him anything. But you have to tell him sometime."

The gates drew ever closer as we walked together, and the minutes that passed before we were in the shadows of the gates vanished quickly into the sands of time.

* * *

"Hey you!" Merle shouted. Her voice was hoarse. "Open the gates now!" 

"Lady Merle, is that you?" one of the guards called down. We heard a great deal of relieved chuckling float down on the breeze. "C'mon in! We heard a convoy you were traveling with was just attacked. King Van's been wondering where you were!"

A smaller door in the gates opened, and a friendly-faced guard let us through. The new gates were built twice as thick as they were before Zaibach's initial attack. As we came through on the other side, I stared up in awe at the new Fanelia.

The once-fallen city had been rebuilt to its former splendor, a richness that wholly reminded me of Japan. The cobblestone beneath my feet was pleasantly warm, and Merle and I followed a large, central path that led to the palace. Vendors lined the streets on both sides, haggling and calling out their prices to passersby.

I felt nervous as we walked among Fanelia's citizens; would any of them recognize me? I silently wished I'd grabbed my bag of clothing before we'd fled from the destroyed convoy – at least I would've had my cloak to disappear under. Fortunately, no one seemed to pay much attention to us.

"Merle," I said, drawing near to her in the crowded streets. "What are we going to do when we get to the castle? I mean… I don't think I'll be expected."

"True," she agreed. "I'll just say that I'm visiting, and that I have a guest. Personally, I think it would be fun to make your appearance all dramatic and stuff, but I don't know what you wanna do."

A small laugh escaped me. "Well… it would be fun. Let's get there first." I pointed up the many stairs that led to the palace, which seemed to have been rebuilt much grander than it was before it had been destroyed. I heard Merle groan quietly.

"I'm too tired to take on these stairs like I usually do, so I guess I'll have to walk at your pace," she giggled and stuck out her tongue.

"You're a brat," I retorted. She just grinned mischievously at me.

"You act like I haven't heard that from you before," she replied, grabbing my hand. "We're gonna make this trip up the stairs sooner or later, so let's make it quick." With that, we hurried up the marble stairs, clutching at our skirts to keep from tripping on our hems.

* * *

When we finally arrived at the top, we came face to face with about a dozen royal knights, all standing stoic in front of the entrance. The doors to the castle were tall and ornately carved with golden pictures of dragons and the kings of Fanelia long gone. Fanelia's seal was in the very center, and the seam between the doors had been cleaved down the center. 

I hesitated at the top stair; my calves were on fire and breathing was a little painful. Merle simply stepped forward and bowed low. The two knights standing closest to the entrance bowed their heads.

One spoke up after Merle had straightened. "King Van has been eagerly awaiting any word of your safety." He was young and looked about my age. "Please go right in, but if you don't mind my inquiry, who is your guest?"

Merle glanced back at me and rolled her eyes, but gave me a thumbs-up before she answered. "She's one of the surviving members of the fruit convoy that was attacked. I can vouch for her."

"Very well," he replied. The two guards stepped apart, and the tall doors to Fanelia's palace creaked open.

* * *

We entered the palace quietly, and the first room we stepped into was the throne room. The ceilings were vaulted and like most of the castle, extraordinarily decorated. It vaguely reminded me of the Sistine Chapel in Italy: beautiful and painstakingly created. The room was mostly empty, except for a few women who were busy polishing the floors to a mirror-like finish. The entrance into the throne room was dim, except for a few windows where the sunlight streamed in. 

I paused in the shadows to admire a large vase that was set on a pedestal. The pictures that danced around the rounded vase were winged, and vaguely reminded me of how Folken must have been before I'd met him. I lightly touched the sides of the vase with my fingertips, marveling at the level of detail, when a loud shout forced my attention away.

Merle had continued into the throne room while I'd stopped to rest, and apparently our presence had been announced, for there was someone in a loose red shirt and long tan pants, running barefoot through the room to meet her.

My heart jumped into my throat, followed closely by my stomach, and my hands began to shake uncontrollably. That shaking traveled quickly up my arms to my shoulders, and I tried to breathe deeply and calm myself down.

The King of Fanelia, a tall, lithe, raven-haired, and impressive young man, was hugging Merle very tightly in the center of the throne room. The very sight of him was suddenly calming, and the shaking stopped as soon as it had begun. My arms dropped like leaden weights to my sides, and I took a few steps forward, but remained in the shadowed entrance. A beam of light from the windows slid across my right side. From my position, I was near enough to hear what Merle was saying: words of comfort and calming. But when she changed the subject, I was almost surprised. It was the first time, since my arrival on Gaia, that I had felt like I was on the outside of everything.

"I have some good news for you," I heard Merle say. Van stood back from her a bit, staring intently at her. Then I took another step forward, and more sunlight slid across me. He noticed my movement, and his crimson gaze snapped towards me. His eyes widened visibly, and his expression would have been laughable in other circumstances.

I stepped out of the alcove, into the full light of the throne room. Merle had been right – my appearance was almost dramatic, in a way.

Merle laid a hand on his shoulder and said something that was far too quiet for me to hear, but I somehow knew that she was reassuring him that it was me.

I took another step, and then another, until the distance had closed to about fifteen feet. Merle had left us, and where she had gone I never knew, because everything disappeared but the young man in front of me.

"Hitomi," he finally said. He was still looking at me as if he couldn't believe I was there.

"Van," I responded, giving him a small smile, "aren't you going to welcome me back?"

He suddenly unfroze from his stupor, realizing that yes; I was standing solid and alive in front of him. In less than three seconds he closed the distance between us, gathering me up in his arms.

"You're alive," he whispered, and I could hear tears in his voice. "I thought I'd lost you forever."

I looked into his eyes, and I watched a tear slide down his cheek. Gently, I thumbed it away. "I promised you that I'd come back," I said, feeling like I was going to burst from happiness. "I'd never break the promise I made to the one I love."

"Oh Hitomi," he sighed. "I feel like this is some sort of dream." I blinked at him, and pinched the flesh on his arm. He flinched.

"Nope, you're awake," I stated flatly. Then I grinned at him, and he suddenly lifted me up in his strong arms, twirling me about. I shrieked and he laughed, his entire expression a mixture of complete relief and absolute happiness. He set me down gently, taking a step back to look at me.

"Look at you," he said, "you're all dirty! Reminds me of the early days."

I didn't respond – I was too busy taking in the details. His jaw was smooth with no trace of any stubble, and his dark, unruly hair had been partially tamed, as if trying to smooth it down was too much of an effort. The brief visions I had seen of him while on Earth couldn't match the real thing. Van had grown well over a foot, towering above me like his older brother had.

"You guys make my teeth hurt," Merle called teasingly. "I'm going to take a bath, Lord Van. By the way," she said, turning and waving a hand, "it might be better to take your reunion to somewhere more private." She began to walk towards an archway in the back of the throne room.

I felt my cheeks burn with a blush, but my embarrassment didn't last long.

"King Van!" A group of knights hurried across the room from the main entrance, led by the knight who had let Merle and I into the palace. "Details on the convoy attack have just been secured. I'm afraid I must request an audience with your Majesty right away. This an important matter than cannot be ignored."

Van's face slid effortlessly from overjoyed to serious. "Very well. Hitomi," he said, turning to me. His large hands were warm and heavy on my shoulders. "Go with Merle, and relax for a while. My servants will attend to you both. Merle knows her way around the castle; I'll try to get out of this as soon as possible. It's been too long…" He hugged me again, and I inhaled, the scent of fields clouding my senses. Then he was gone, sprinting across the throne room with the knights close behind.

* * *

Merle and I wandered through the corridors with a very subdued but kind old woman leading us. The crowded corridors of over five years ago were gone, replaced by more vaulted ceilings and some of the grandest types architecture since I'd set foot in King Aston's palace in Asturia, and the palace in Freid. The memory of watching Balgus and Van duel in a dark room surfaced briefly, but disappeared beneath the nostalgia. 

The old woman led us into a small ballroom, where two staircases curved up to a second floor. We climbed silently up one before Merle spoke.

"So, you're not disappointed, are you?" The tone of voice she was using reminded me of her prying questions when I had first arrived on Gaia.

"No, not at all," I said, answering a little too quickly. "It's not my fault that he has things to do! After all, he is King now-"

Merle's peals of laughter interrupted my stumbling words. "I meant how he looks, dummy! Besides, I was being sarcastic. And don't worry about him having to rush off like that. I could see that he'd rather hug you forever rather than be dragged off to a meeting."

I sighed. "It's just… the timing sucked. But tell me, what did it look like to you? I mean, was he really happy to see me?"

Merle rolled her eyes. "Hitomi, you worry too much, did you know that? The way Lord Van reacted to your presence was incredible! I've never seen him so happy in his life… trust me, okay?"

I nodded, but then I grinned at her. We reached the top of the stairs, and the old woman led us through two solid wood doors at the very back of the landing. She opened one and motioned us through, into a narrow but beautiful hallway. The thick rug felt soothing beneath my aching feet, and it kind of reminded me of a really nice hotel on Earth; there were many doors set into the wall on either side, each with a different symbol next to the doorknob. She led us down the hallway a little ways, and we climbed another, smaller set of stairs and ended up in front of two more doors.

"These are the private chambers," Merle whispered through her teeth. "Only really important people are allowed back here. Like me."

"Come ladies," the old woman said gruffly, finally speaking. She opened one of the doors, and we stepped into a room; in front of us there was another set of doors, but they were deep red and inlaid with what looked like gold. On either side of us, there were two more sets of doors, but they were plain wood; however, they were painted with detailed images of Gaia's many flowers. The old woman left us for a moment, bustling to unlock each room.

"That one there is especially important." Merle said, pointing at the red set of doors and giving me a quick wink. There was a silken rope hanging on one golden door handle; it was loosely knotted and long enough to loop around the other handle. "That's Lord Van's room. The rope there is used to signify to any outsiders that he doesn't want anyone to come in – he just strings it across both handles. And this," she said, gesturing to her right, "is where I usually stay. I've visited so many times after I left that he's officially made it my room, whether I'm here or not." She beamed happily.

"What about that room?" I asked, pointing to our left. The old woman was standing in front of the doors, searching through a ring of keys and humming a familiar tune.

"Oh… that room has never been used, I believe. The servants clean it every month, but no one's ever stayed there, to my knowledge." The old woman seemed to finally find the key, and unlocked the doors, pushing them open. A fresh smell wafted out, rather than an old, musty one.

"Lady Merle," the old woman said, "inspect your room, and make sure it's to your specifications. Lady Hitomi, please inspect yours as well."

"Thank you, Yuba," Merle said, disappearing into her room. I bowed shortly, and then proceeded into my room.

* * *

When I entered, the dimness of the room forced my eyes to adjust. Fortunately, I could see where the sun was streaming in through cracks in the curtain, and I slowly made my way to a window. I tugged the curtains back, tucking them neatly into the hooks on either side of the window, and looked around. The room was large and sparsely furnished, with a four-post canopy bed to my left and a large bureau complete with a mirror in front of me. The floor was mostly smooth stone, and it was cool to the touch. 

Adorning the walls were many tapestries and all different colors and designs, and I walked along the walls, running my hands across the smooth, woven textures. Eventually I came to a door that I hadn't noticed before, tucked between two tapestries that had medieval depictions of dragons on them. I opened it by tugging especially hard on the gold handle, and was surprised to find a bathing room behind the door. It was large and the floor was tiled, and there was nothing on the walls save for a small window above the bathtub. The tub itself was wide and deep enough to accommodate about six people. I leaned over the edge and peered in; it was easy to disappear beneath the level of the water.

"Pretty nice, isn't it?" I turned around to find Merle standing in the doorway, her tail twitching back and forth slowly.

"It's wonderful," I replied, dragging my fingertips along the smooth finish of the tub. We sat together on my bed.

"You know, I think he made this room for you," she said. "It's like he designed your wing with you in mind."

I blinked at her, crossing my arms across my chest indignantly. "What do you mean by that?"

"Look." Merle jumped from the bed, and skipped over to the far corner. "You see this tapestry?" She was tugging at a red tapestry with the gold seal of Fanelia embroidered on it. There was a peculiar sound, and it suddenly slid back across a rod that I hadn't noticed before. There was a door behind it.

"Merle!" I gasped. "How did you know that was back there?" She shrugged and pulled on the handle, and the door opened. There was curtain of the same color on the other side.

"Well, I had to take care of him once when he was sick, and I was snooping a bit while he was sleeping. This exact same tapestry is on the other side as well, hiding the door."

I got up and walked to the door, pushing the second curtain aside and stepping into Van's chambers. The room around me was large and had high ceilings, complete with a chandelier. The walls didn't have any hangings; in fact, the whole room was rather spartan in appearance. The far wall was entirely composed of windows; they all opened onto a balcony that looked like it spanned the entire length of the castle. A warm breeze floated in, stirring the white curtains.

Merle squeezed past me and with an excited cry, ran out the windows to the balcony. "Hitomi, the view from here is amazing. Come look."

I walked past the bed, which looked almost identical to mine, and through the open windows. The castle dropped away below us, and all of Fanelia was visible from the balcony. The people below were ant-sized.

"I think you can figure out why Van made the entire outer wall like this," Merle said, nodding at the windows.

"Yeah, it's easy enough," I said, taking a deep breath. I closed my eyes for a moment, imagining Van diving off the balcony and into the air.

"Yours are so pretty Hitomi," Merle sighed after a few minutes of silence. "Just remember that Van will find out sooner or later, no matter who tells him."

"I know." I rolled my shoulders forward and made a noise of discomfort as my shoulders cracked. After a few moments, we left the balcony. For the first time since we'd arrived in Fanelia, I could feel exhaustion nagging at me.

"I'm so tired, I think I'm going to take a nap," I yawned. Merle followed me back through the secret door, and we straightened both curtains.

Merle left my room without so much as a "'bye"; I supposed that she was tired as well. We'd had a rough day. I padded back to my bed, and rolled over into the comfort of the blankets. I lay awake for barely more than three minutes, breathing in the scent of fields and wildflowers. Then I closed my eyes, and didn't open them until almost a day later, when the gentle touch of a young King woke me.

**Author's Notes:** Well... I finally posted the fourth chapter where Hitomi reunites with Van... I know it was kinda flaky but there is much more to come. But... before you go and review... I would like to ask a nice, big favor of my reviewers and readers who have tagged along faithfully thus far: if you are unsatisfied with Hitomi being the way she is, please don't tell me that in my review. It's all tied in to a bigger plot but for the moment, all you know is what you have read, and I beg of you, my beloved readers, PLEASE do not post a review saying, "Well I don't think Hitomi should be like that, etc." I'm not going to change my plot for anyone but myself and I rather like it as it is, and if you don't like it, stop reading it! Oh, and I realize that my URL got screwed up in my last chapter posting... if you would like to see fanart, see my user info. Thanks!


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